WHAT  IS  HOMOEOPATHY? 


A NEW 


EXPOSITION  OF  A GREAT  TRUTH. 

r 


u Prove  all  things : hold  fast  that  which  is  good.”  — St.  Paul. 


By  WILLIAM  H.  HOLCOMBE,  M.L., 

III 


BOERICKE  & TAFEL: 

NEW  YORK,  PHILADELPHIA, 

No.  145  GRAND  STREU.T.  No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 

1874. 


Suggestive  extracts  from  Renouard’s  History  of  Medicine,  Trans- 
lated by  Prof.  Comegys. — Page  654. 

“‘The  time  has  gone  by/  truly  remarks  the  translator  of  Hahnemann, 
‘ when  ihp  pleasantries  relative  to  the  infinitesimal  doses  can  be  regarded  as 
good  arguments  against  Homoeopathy.’  We  are  certainly  compelled  to  take 
this  doctrine  into  serious  consideration,  since  men,  commendable  by  their 
scientific  titles  and  medical  position,  members  of  faculties,  hospital  physicians, 
and  eminent  practitioners  have  embraced  it,  and  become  its  public  defenders ; 
since  journals  have  been  established  and  societies  instituted  in  different  coun- 
tries to  make  public  its  principles  and  practice.” 

« It  is  true,  that  a long  time  ago  some  experiments  were  made ; but  these 
experiments,  now  almost  forgotten,  should  have  been  resumed  on  a grander 
scale  by  different  therapeutists : for  it  must  be  avowed  that  the  negative  results 
published  by  M.  Andral,  or  any  other  experimenter,  whoever  he  may  have 
been,  cannot  nullify  the  positive  results  which  the  Homceopathists  pretend  to 
oppose  to  the/  » ” 

“ What  can  we  answer  when  they  say  to  us : 

“ ‘ The  most  efficacious  means  possessed  by  the  Healing  Art,  viz. : Specifics, 
which,  according  to  common  consent,  procure  the  mildest,  promptest  and  most 
durable  cures,  your  official  medicine  proscribes  as  much  as  possible ; it 
excludes  them  from  its  theory,  if  not  from  its  practice.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
come  to  teach  you  a means  to  discover  and  a method  to  employ  these  admira- 
ble instruments  of  cure.’ 

“ What  have  we  to  respond  to  such  an  argumentation  as  this  ? Nothing, 
absolutely  nothing  serious  and  logical.” 


u 


PREFACE. 


Scene  — In  the  street  of  a city.  Persons  — Two  physicians  meeting. 

Homoeopathist. — Now,  Doctor,  we  are  old  friends  and  schoolmates. 
We  were  educated  at  the  same  institutions,  literary  and  scientific. 
Our  opinions  differ  considerably  on  some  important  matters ; but  1 
believe  we  entertain  a mutual  respect  for  each  others  motives  and 
feelings.  Excuse  me,  if  I urge  upon  you,  for  the  sake  of  truth, 
science  and  humanity,  to  consider  and  investigate  Homoeopathy  in 
a serious  and  candid  spirit. 

Allopathist.  — Why,  my  dear  fellow ! I investigated  it  long  ago. 
I am  a thoroughly  practical  man,  sir ! a man  of  facts  — without 
prejudices,  without  antipathies  — a disciple  of  the  Baconian  phi- 
losophy, open  to  conviction  and  unbiassed  in  my  researches. 

Homoeopathist.  — Just  the  material,  my  dear  Doctor,  for  a splen- 
did Homoeopathist ! What  conclusion  did  your  liberal  investiga- 
tion lead  you  to?  May  I ask  you,  What  is  Homoeopathy  t 

Allopathist.  — The  art  of  practising  medicine  with  infinitesimal 
doses. 

Homoeopathist.  — Not  a bit  of  it ! 

Allopathist.  — Oh,  yes!  You  put  a grain  of  Aconite  into  the 
Mississippi  Biver  at  St.  Paul,  and  give  a teaspoonful  of  the  same 
river  water  at  New  Orleans  in  cases  of  fever. 

Homoeopathist.  — Pooh  ! The  dose  is  no  essential  pai  t of  Homoe- 
opathy. 

Allopathist.  — Well,  then,  Homoeopathy  is  the  art  of  treating 
disease  on  the  principle  that  “ Like  cures  like.”  The  hair  of  a dog 
that  bit,  is  good  for  the  bite,  you  know.  But  Mother  Goose’s  Melo- 


IV 


PREFACE. 


dies  illustrates  your  doctrine  admirably.  That  invaluable  book 
tells  of  a gentleman  who  scratched  out  both  his  eyes  by  jumping 
into  a bramble-bush,  and  forthwith  scratched  them  in  again  by 
jumping  into  another ! You  give  Arsenic  when  a man  has  been 
poisoned  by  Arsenic,  etc. 

Homoeopathist. — Your  wit  is  better  than  your  knowledge,  but 
they  are  both  dated  about  forty  years  back.  Can’t  you  give  me  a 
more  scientific  definition  of  Homoeopathy  ? 

Allopathist.  — Homoeopathy  is  the  art  of  prescribing  for  symp- 
toms Symptomatology  run  mad.  It  ignores  Pathology,  rejects  the 
accumulated  experience  of  ages,  and  is  the  grave  of  scientific  medi- 
cine. 

Homoeopathist. — No,  sir!  a tissue  of  misapprehensions,  long  since 
exploded. 

Allopathist.  — It  is  a strict  system  of  diet  — no  medicine  at  all  — 
“ the  art  of  amusing  the  patient,  whilst  nature  cures  the  disease.” 

Homoeopathist.  — You  are  greatly  mistaken,  sir! 

Allopathist. — It  never  permits  a purgative,  an  emetic,  a blister  — 

Homoeopathist.  — Quite  wrong,  sir ! 

Allopathist.  — Then,  sir,  it  is  the  most  potent  Allopathy  con- 
cealed under  the  form  of  sugar  pellets  and  lucid  tinctures. 

Homoeopathist.  — Not  at  all,  sir! 

Allopathist.  — What  is  not  deception  and  trickery,  is  downright 
transcendental  medical  moonshine. 

Homoeopathist.  — No,  sir ! No,  sir ! 

Allopathist.  — It  is  humbug,  sir ! humbug ! ! humbug ! ! ! 

Homoeopathist.  — No,  sir ! no,  sir ! ! no,  sir ! ! ! 

Allopathist.  — Then  pray  tell  me,  sir,  what  is  Homoeopathy  ? 

Homoeopathist. — You  have  yourself  defined  admirably  what 
Homoeopathy  is  not;  if  you  really  wish  to  know  what  it  is, 

READ  THIS  LITTLE  PAMPHLET! 


HOMCEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 


WHO  has  not  heard  of  Homoeopathy?  From  the  German 
centre  in  which  it  originated,  this  strange  medical  doc- 
trine, with  its  stranger  practice,  has  diffused  itself,  in  sixty 
years,  throughout  the  civilized  world.  In  the  United  States 
alone,  it  has  between  three  and  four  thousand  educated  prac- 
titioners. It  is  a vast  and  growing  power  in  the  scientific 
sphere  of  thought,  demanding  earnestly  the  attention  of  every 
intelligent  man.  Its  real  merit  may  be  partially  measured  by 
the  strength  of  the  obstacles  it  has  overcome.  In  the  begin- 
ning everything  was  against  it.  The  doctors  ridiculed  it ; the 
people  distrusted  it.  It  was  assailed  alike  by  professional  jokes 
and  by  doggerel  poetry.  The  novelty  of  its  principle,  the 
smallness  of  its  dose,  the  extravagance  of  its  claims,  the  dog- 
matism of  its  founder,  the  eccentricities  of  its  adherents,  and 
the  exactions  of  its  practice,  all  conspired  to  retard  its  recep- 
tion. It  then  had  no  colleges  to  teach  — no  hospitals  to  verify 
— no  journals  to  disseminate  its  discoveries.  How  changed  is 
all  this  at  the  present  day ! 

It  had  also  to  contend  against  the  weight  of  authority,  the 
prestige  of  great  names,  the  power  of  prejudice,  the  influence 
of  fashion,  an  immense  commercial  and  corporation  interest  in 
the  old  order  of  things,  and  the  pre-occupation  of  the  whole 
ground  by  a powerful,  learned,  and  jealous  profession.  These 
are  still  its  real  and  only  enemies  : not  truth,  or  light,  or  reason, 
or  science,  or  nature.  Independent  and  candid  physicians  came 
slowly  to  its  rescue.  The  indolence  of  some,  the  timidity  of 
others,  and  the  self-interest  of  all,  impelled  them  in  the  con- 
servative direction.  Still  the  heresy  grew.  When  there  were 
not  physicians  to  urge  it  upon  the  people,  there  were  people  to 

5 


6 


HOMOEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 


demand  it  of  the  physicians.  Its  vitality  was  indestructible. 
Persecuted  from  one  place,  it  sprang  up  in  another.  Extin- 
guished here,  it  ignited  there.  When  one  man  rejected  it,  a 
dozen  adopted  it.  Thus  on,  on  it  went,  until  it  became  what 
it  is,  which  is  only  a prophecy  of  what  it  will  be.  Time  has 
falsified  the  predictions  of  its  enemies,  but  has  not  softened 
their  bitterness.  When  they  said  it  was  declining,  it  was  just 
wakening  into  life.  When  they  declared  it  was  dying,  it  was 
growing  into  power.  And  now  that  they  swear  it  is  dead,  it  is 
likely  to  prove  immortal. 

And  yet,  my  good  reader,  what  is  Homoeopathy  f It  has 
excited  a great  deal  of  public  attention  and  private  discussion. 
Every  Allopathic  professor  ventilates  the  subject  annually  to 
his  credulous  class,  and  every  Allopathic  physician  portrays  its 
follies  and  its  dangers  to  his  restless  patients.  Nothing  is  so 
much  talked  about,  and  nothing  so  little  understood.  The 
“ regular  profession  ” universally  sees  it  in  a false  light.  It  is 
indeed  a curious  subject.  There  is  some  truth  in  everything 
which  has  been  said  against  it,  and  some  weakness  in  every 
argument  which  has  been  propounded  for  it.  And  still  the 
Homoeopathic  law  of  cure  — “ similia  similibus  curantur  ” — 
is  the  vivifying  principle  of  scientific  medicine  — the  grand 
thought  which  is  to  revolutionize  the  medical  world.  It  is 
worth  studying.  I have  the  ambition,  and  I think  I have  the 
power,  to  explain  to  you  what  Homoeopathy  is ; what  it  really 
professes  to  be  and  to  do ; its  essential  nature  and  necessary 
limitations  — without  a particle  of  theorizing  — in  a plain, 
practical,  and  convincing  manner.  What  if  it  be  not  Hahne- 
mannism,  the  Homoeopathy  of  the  past?  Reflect  candidly  on 
my  views  and  ask  yourself  as  you  read,  Is  not  this  the  Homoe- 
opathy of  nature,  of  reason,  of  common  sense  — the  Homoe- 
opathy of  the  future  ? 


DEPARTMENTS  OF  PRACTICE  NOT  HOMCEOPATHIC. 

In  the  first  place : Homoeopathy  is  not  a new  and  perfect 
Science  of  Medicine.  It  is  no  new  gospel,  no  new  revelation 


DEPARTMENTS  OF  PRACTICE,  ETC. 


7 


to  the  medical  world.  All  such  claims  are  preposterous.  It  is 
not  Science,  but  a part  of  it.  It  is  not  Medicine,  but  a grand 
reform  in  one  of  its  departments.  It  has  no  new  Anatomy  or 
Chemistry  or  Physiology  or  Pathology.  It  has  no  new  Sur- 
gery or  Obstetrics,  although  it  has  made  great  improvements 
in  the  medical  treatment  of  surgical  and  obstetrical  cases.  It 
does  not  reject  the  accumulated  experience  of  ages.  It  is  not 
“ the  grave  of  scientific  medicine, ; ” but  its  cradle.  It  holds  fast 
to  all  that  is  good  in  the  storehouses  of  the  past.  Every  fact  is 
of  use  to  it.  Every  truth  is  in  sympathy  with  it.  It  repudi- 
ates nothing  but  error.  The  whole  cycle  of  sciences,  physical 
and  psychological,  is  necessary  to  its  full  and  final  development. 

Secondly  : There  are  many  measures  (not  medicines)  valuable 
or  indispensable  in  the  treatment  of  disease.  Such  for  instance 
as  relate  to  the  proper  and  scientific  regulation  of  temperature, 
light,  air,  water,  food,  exercise,  habits,  and  the  various  influ- 
ences which  modify  our  mental  and  moral  life.  There,  too,  is 
the  vast  realm  of  Hydropathy  — a therapeutic  world  in  itself 
— the  operation  of  hot  and  cold  water,  of  ice,  steam,  vapor, 
local  and  general  bathing,  packing,  etc.,  etc.  Electricity,  also, 
galvanism,  magnetism,  mesmerism,  kinesipathy  and  chrono- 
thermalism,  are  no  doubt  exceedingly  valuable  in  the  treatment 
of  many  diseases.  All  these  are  not  Homoeopathy.  They 
neither  exclude  it,  nor  are  they  excluded  by  it.  They  consti- 
tute a grand  collateral  department  of  the  Healing  Art  — in  the 
most  friendly  alliance  with  the  Homoeopathic  administration 
of  drugs. 

Thirdly : Homoeopathy  does  not  interfere  with  the  use  of 
mechanical  measures,  nor  even  with  the  use  of  drugs  for  certain 
mechanical  purposes.  Vomiting  may  expel  a poison  from  the 
stomach,  a gall-stone  from  the  biliary  ducts,  or  a false  mem- 
brane from  the  windpipe.  The  Homoeopathist  may  thus  use 
emetics  for  their  mechanical  effect.  Ergot  to  empty  the  uterus, 
belladonna  to  dilate  the  pupil,  chloroform  to  relax  the  muscles, 
sulphur  ointment  to  kill  the  itch-insect,  vermifuges  to  destroy 
and  expel  worms,  and  in  certain  cases  astringents,  diluents, 
emollients  and  protectives,  (such  as  collodion,)  are  examples  of- 


8 


HOMOEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 


drugs  being  used  to  bring  about  certain  mechanical  ends,  all 
admissible  in  the  strictest  Homoeopathic  practice.  Purgatives, 
in  some  cases  of  great  intestinal  obstruction  or  torpor,  become 
simple  mechanical  agents.  Even  blood-letting,  as  a mechanical 
measure,  is  perfectly  allowable  to  the  Homoeopathic  physician. 
He  does  not  use  it  simply  because  the  superiority  of  his  medi- 
cine enables  him  to  cure  his  patient  without  it.  “ Let  your 
lancet  rest,”  said  a distinguished  Homoeopath ist,  “ but  do  not 
throw  it  away.” 

Fourthly  : There  are  chemical  means  of  cure  often  available, 
and  which  act  according  to  the  laws  of  inorganic  or  organic 
chemistry,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  antidotes  for  many  poisons 
are  used  on  this  principle,  and,  of  course,  in  the  doses  found 
requisite  by  laboratory  experiment  — a certain  quantity  of 
antidote  being  required  to  neutralize  a certain  quantity  of  poi- 
• son.  How  often  have  we  Homoeopathists  had  to  answer  the 
silly  question,  whether  or  not  we  treated  arsenical  poisoning  by 
small  doses  of  arsenic?  Examples  of  chemical  therapeutics  are 
the  following:  Acids  and  alkalies  for  excess  of  alkalinity  or 
acidity  in  the  gastro-intestinal  or  urinary  secretions ; vegetable 
acids  for  scurvy;  alkalies  to  dissolve  inspissated  mucus  in  some 
bronchial  affections;  certain  remedies  which  modify  the  chemical 
condition  of  the  blood ; iron  for  an  impoverished  state  of  that 
fluid,  phosphate  of  lime  when  deficient  in  the  bones ; chlorine, 
charcoal,  lime,  creosote,  and  other  antiseptics  to  arrest  or  prevent 
putridity,  etc.  This  is  not  Homoeopathy;  neither  is  it  Allopathy, 
[t  is  vital  chemistry,  operating  by  special  laws  of  its  own,  and 
equally  free  to  the  advocates  of  any  system  of  medicine. 


THE  HOMCEOPATHIC  PRINCIPLE  OR  LAW. 

Having  thus  briefly  surveyed  those  departments  of  practice 
in  which  Homoeopathy,  as  such,  does  not  profess  to  operate,  we 
can  approach  more  understand ingly  to  the  far  greater  and  more 
important  field  in  which  it  gives  us  the  sole  law  of  cure.  The 
only  point  of  dispute  between  Allopathists  and  Homoeopathists 


THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  PRINCIPLE  OR  LAW.  9 


is  about  the  vital  or  dynamic  action  of  drugs,  and  their  appli- 
cation in  the  cure  of  disease.  What  is  a medicine?  Given  to 
the  healthy  man,  in  sufficient  dose,  it  is  always  a poison.  The 
Greeks  had  but  one  word  for  medicine  and  poison.  That  drugs 
have  any  special  healing,  mollifying,  curative  effect  is  merely  a 
popular  superstition.  Every  drug  is  a poison , arid  it  cures  by 
means  of  its  poisonous  or  disease-producing  properties.  Every 
dose  of  medicine  occasions,  beyond  all  dispute,  an  artificial  dis- 
ease. This  artificial  disease  is  the  secret  of  the  cure.  Every 
dose  of  medicine  given  by  an  Allopathist  to  cure  a sick  man, 
would,  if  he  were  well,  make  him  sick.  Let  this  great  truth, 
so  ignored  by  the  profession,  so  unknown  to  the  public,  be  kept 
constantly  in  mind.  The  idea  is  very  ancient.  An  old  Sanscrit 
poem  declares  that  poison  is  the  remedy  for  poison.  The 
Homoeopathic  law  peeps  out  even  in  Hippocrates,  the  father  of 
medical  literature.  It  is  hinted  at,  or  sometimes  openly 
declared,  in  the  saws  and  axioms  of  almost  all  the  nations. 
Shakspeare,  who  caught  up  everything  which  was  true  and 
beautiful  by  a kind  of  divine  instinct,  thus  teaches  us  Homoe- 
opathy : 

a In  poison  there  is  physic : and  this  news, 

Having  bfeen  well,  that  would  have  made  me  sick, 

Being  sick,  has  in  some  measure  made  me  well.” 

[Henry  IV.,  Part  2,  Act  1,  Scene  1. 

Never  forget  it.  Drugs  always  produce  artificial  diseases. 
These  artificial  diseases  are  the  mediums  of  the  cure.  Where 
shall  they  be  produced  and  to  what  extent?  These  are  the  only 
vital  questions.  The  Allopathist,  in  accordance  with  certain 
theories  of  disease  and  its  cure,  employs  the  poisonous  properties 
of  drugs  to  produce  certain  physiological  perturbations,  vomit- 
ing, purging,  sweating,  increased  or  diminished  secretions, 
narcosis,  depletion,  stimulation,  etc.,  etc.,  which  he  believes 
will  effect  his  object.  His  general  idea  is  to  produce  a state 
opposite  to  that  already  existing.  The  Homoeopathist  repudiates 
all  this  theory  and  practice,  and  affirms  that  diseases  are  cured 
by  those  drugs  which  produce  similar  diseases,  in  strong  doses, 
on  the  healthy  man.  Both  parties  use  poisons  to  cure.  The 


10 


homoeopathy;  what  is  it? 


situation,  extent,  and  character  of  the  poisoning  or  artificial 
disease  are  the  only  mooted  points.  A slight,  similar,  morbid 
impression  in  the  diseased  spot,  is  the  simple  and  beautiful  law 
of  Homoeopathy.  The  Allopathist,  having  no  such  therapeutic 
law  — nothing  but  his  crude  and  often  contradictory  theories 
to  guide  him  — produces  very  strong  morbid  impressions, 
sometimes  similar,  and  sometimes  dissimilar;  sometimes  in  the 
diseased  point,  sometimes  in  distant  points;  often  in  both. 
Sometimes  one  of  his  medicines  produces  one  set  of  these 
symptoms,  whilst  another  medicine  produces  the  other.  Some- 
times a second  medicine  is  required  to  undo  what  he  had 
effected  by  the  first.  He  pulls  down,  only  to  build  up  again. 
Now  he  blows  hot,  then  cold ; and  so  on.  In  fact,  his  philosophy 
is  a labyrinth  and  his  practice  a chaos. 

Hahnemann  states  our  therapeutic  law  in  the  following 
terms:  “ A dynamic  disease  in  the  living  economy  of  man  is 
extinguished  in  a permanent  manner  by  another,  that  is  still 
more  powerful,  when  the  latter  (without  being  of  the  same 
species)  bears  a strong  resemblance  to  it  in  its  mode  of  mani- 
festing itself.”  Leaving  out  the  unnecessary  and  unestablished 
hypothesis,  that  the  new  disease  is  stronger  than  the  old  one, 
this  formula  is  the  most  practical  and  beneficent  generalization 
which  has  ever  been  made  in  the  science  of  medicine.  A 
dynamic  natural  disease  (not  a mechanical  or  chemical  deviation 
from  the  normal  standard)  is  best  cured  by  producing  a similar 
(not  the  same)  dynamic  disturbance  in  the  same  parts  and 
tissues,  which  therefore  manifests  itself  by  similar  symptoms. 
This  is  the  only  “ indication  ” in  Homoeopathic  practice.  This 
is  the  clue  which  leads  us  out  of  the  old  labyrinths  of 
speculation  and  experiment,  and  makes  available  the  disease- 
producing  power  of  drugs. 

Now  this  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  Homoeopathy,  its  true 
basis,  its  corner-stone,  its  only  essential  element.  All  other 
questions  — of  large  or  small  doses,  of  pellets  or  tinctures,  of 
dynamizations,  of  what  Hahnemann  said,  of  what  this  or  that 
disciple  said  or  did,  of  imagination,  or  diet,  or  nature,  or  im- 
posture, etc.,  etc.  — all  these  questions,  and  many  other  such, 


THE  LAW  PROVED  BY  ALLOPATHIC  EVIDENCE.  11 

have  no  bearing  on  the  point  under  trial,  and  are  altogether 
collateral  and  impertinent.  No  matter  what  solution  they 
receive,  Homoeopathy  remains  intact,  vital,  indestructible,  and 
sure  to  be  the  medicine  of  the  future,  unless  you  overturn  this 
grand  pedestal,  this  natural  or  vital  law,  on  which  it  has  been 
erected.  It  is  only  the  small  fry  of  Allopathy,  knowing  little 
and  thinking  less,  who  attempt  to  ridicule  this  principle, 
<(  Similia  similibus  curantur  ” — “ Like  cures  like.”  The  great 
leaders,  the  intelligent  men  of  their  school,  although  attacking 
our  system  just  as  bitterly  on  the  unimportant  side-issues,  do 
not  dare  to  impugn  the  truth  of  the  fundamental  law.  They 
content  themselves  with  attempting  to  limit  its  applications. 
Witness  the  following  evidence  from  the  very  highest  Allopathic 
authorities. 

THE  LAW  PROVED  BY  ALLOPATHIC  EVIDENCE. 

“ When  Hahnemann  promulgated  this  therapeutic  formula, 
‘ similia  similibus  eurantux’  he  supported  his  assertions  by  citations 
from  the  practice  of  the  most  illustrious  physicians.  There  is 
every  proof  that  local  inflammations  are  frequently  cured  by  the 
direct  application  of  irritants,  which  cause  a similar  inflammation ; 
the  artificial  irritation  substituting  itself  for  the  primitive  one.”  — 
Trousseau  et  Pidoux,  Traite  de  Therapeutique,  Tome  1,  page  470. 

“ Supercession.  By  this  process  is  meant  the  displacing  or  pre- 
vention of  one  affection  by  the  establishment  of  another  in  the  seat 
of  it.  It  is  a general,  though  by  no  means  a universal  pathological 
law,  that  two  powerful  diseases,  or  forms  of  abnormal  action,  cannot 
exist  in  the  whole  system  or  in  any  part  of  it  at  the  same  time.  If, 
therefore,  we  can  produce  a new  disease  or  new  mode  of  abnormal 
action  in  the  exact  position  of  one  that  may  be  existing  or  expected, 
we  may  possibly  supersede  the  latter ; and  if  the  new  disorder 
subside  spontaneously,  without  injury,  we  cure  our  patients.  The 
operation  of  numerous  remedial  agents  may  be  explained  in  this 
way.” — Wood’s  Therapeutics , vol.  1,  page  54. 

“ Upon  this  ground  we  are  disposed  to  suggest  the  use  of  strychnia 
in  tetanus ; not  that  we  have  become  followers  of  Hahnemann,  but 
that  it  is  a simple  and  undeniable  fact,  that  disorders  are  occasion- 
ally removed  by  remedies  which  have  the  power  of  producing  simi- 


12 


homoeopathy:  what  is  it? 


lar  affections.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  explain  this  fact  by  an 
arbitrary  principle,  that  one  artificial  irritation  excludes  a sponta- 
neous irritation  of  the  same  kind.  A more  rational  ground  for  an 
expectation  of  benefit  from  Homoeopathic  remedies  may  be  found  in 
the  consideration  that  such  agents  prove,  by  their  occasional  pro- 
duction of  symptoms  like  those  of  the  disease  to  be  treated,  that 
they  act  on  the  part  which  is  the  seat  of  the  disease,  and  conse- 
quently that  there  is  a probability  that  in  their  operation  on  that 
part  (whether  it  be  to  the  extent  of  producing  a similar  disease  or 
not)  they  may  effect  a beneficial  change.  Oil  of  turpentine,  for 
instance,  having  been  known  to  produce  a discharge  of  bloody 
urine,  might  be  rationally  administered  in  a case  of  spontaneous 
hematuria.”  — Dr.  Symonds’  Article  on  Tetanus,  Cyclop,  of  Pract. 
Medicine , vol.  4,  page  375. 

For  myself,  I accept  the  above  paragraphs  as  a very  fair 
exposition  of  the  principles  upon  which  I practise  what  is 
called  Homoeopathy.  Out  of  the  mouths  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  independent  “regular”  physicians,  I can  establish  the 
truth  and  rationality  of  the  Homoeopathic  law.  I might  mul- 
tiply quotations  by  the  dozen,  but  the  above  are  sufficient.  We 
differ,  not  as  to  the  nature,  but  as  to  the  extent  of  this  great 
therapeutic  principle  immortalized  by  Hahnemann.  Our  Allo- 
pathic friends  give  it  a subordinate  place : we  insist  upon  its 
supremacy.  They  acknowledge  its  partial  influence : we  main- 
tain its  universal  applicability  in  the  vital  sphere.  If  they 
would  abandon  their  unproved  theories  of  disease,  their  per- 
turbative measures  of  cure,  their  experimentation  upon  the  sick, 
instead  of  upon  the  healthy,  for  their  knowledge  of  drugs,  and 
apply  their  own  philosophy  to  practice,  with  a discreet  diminu- 
tion of  all  their  doses,  they  would  soon  discover  for  themselves 
the  universality  of  the  Homoeopathic  law. 

The  great  truths  of  Homoeopathy  are  sometimes  acknowl- 
edged by  Old-School  thinkers  in  other  shapes  and  under  other 
hypotheses.  Take,  for  instance,  the  following  passage  from  a 
splendid  work  on  Pharmacology,  (vol.  1,  page  32,)  by  Prof. 
Geo.  B.  Wood,  whose  admirable  lectures  I attended  twenty- 
seven  years  ago  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania : 


THE  LAW  PROVED  BY  ALLOPATHIC  EVIDENCE.  13 


“The  sensibilities  are  often  different  in  health  and  in  disease,  so 
that  the  same  medicine  may  produce  opposite  effecls  in  these  two 
states.  Thus,  cayenne  pepper,  which  produces  in  the  healthy  fauces 
redness  and  burning  pain,  acts  as  a sedative  in  the  sore  throats  of 
scarlet  fever.  A concentrated  solution  of  acetate  of  lead,  applied 
to  the  denuded  skin  or  to  a mucous  membrane,  acts  as  an  irritant; 
while  the  same  solution,  very  much  diluted,  will  operate  as  a seda- 
tive through  the  peculiar  powers  of  the  medicine.” 

Leaving  out  his  theory  of  “different  sensibilities,”  “opposite 
effects,”  “stimulant  action,”  “sedative  action  ” — all  mere  hy- 
potheses, good  examples  of  the  vicious,  theorizing  propensities 
of  the  Allopathic  school  — what  are  the  naked  facts  which  Dr. 
Wood  here  acknowledges?  That  acetate  of  lead  produces  a 
severe  irritation  of  the  healthy  tissues,  whilst  a very  much 
diluted  preparation  of  the  same  substance  cures  a similar  irri- 
tation ; that  cayenne  pepper  produces  a burning  sore  throat  in 
the  healthy  man,  but  cures  the  same  kind  of  a sore  throat  in 
the  sick  one.  Yes,  Prof.  Wood ! push  your  own  teachings  here 
to  their  logical  issue,  and  they  will  lead  you  into  all  the  great 
truths  and  therapeutic  blessings  of  Homoeopathy.  Arsenic 
concentrated  will  inflame  the  stomach;  diluted,  will  cure  a 
similar  state.  Colocynth  concentrated  will  purge  and  gripe  ; 
diluted,  will  relieve  the  same  symptoms.  Cantharides  concen- 
trated will  produce  strangury;  diluted,  will  cure  it.  Bella- 
donna concentrated  will  congest  the  brain;  diluted,  will  relieve 
a brain  already  congested;  and  so  on,  and  so  on,  through  the 
whole  Materia  Medica.  What  further  proof  do  we  need  of  the 
truth  and  rationality  of  the  Homoeopathic  principle? 

Indeed,  who  does  not  see  that  the  opposite  doctrine,  “ con - 
traria  contraries  curantur  ” — “ opposites  are  cured  by  oppo- 
sites ” — has  no  foundation  in  reason  or  nature?  It  is  a phrase 
or  an  idea  accommodated  to  the  shallowness  of  our  untutored 
thought:  just  as  we  say,  “the  sun  sets,”  when  yet  science 
teaches  us  that  the  sun  never  sets,  but  that  his  appearance  and 
disappearance  depend  upon  the  revolutions  of  the  earth.  There 
are  no  “ opposites  ” in  any  such  sense  as  this  ancient  medical 
heresy  suggests  to  the  mind.  Cold  is  not  the  opposite  of  heat, 


14  HOMCEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 

but  its  negation  ; darkness  is  not  the  opposite  of  light,  but  the 
effect  of  its  withdrawal ; ease  is  not  the  opposite  of  pain,  but 
its  absence ; weakness  is  not  the  opposite  of  strength,  but  the 
want  of  it ; a slow  pulse  is  not  the  opposite  of  a rapid  one,  but 
its  diminution.  Inflammation,  neuralgia,  dropsy,  vomiting, 
purging,  etc.,  have  no  “ opposites.”  Drugs  produce  no  “ oppo- 
sites” to  these  morbid  states,  but  only  more  or  less  inflamma- 
tion, neuralgia,  dropsy,  vomiting,  purging,  etc.  Allopathy  is 
dissipated  by  analysis.  Homoeopathy,  “similia  similibus ,”  more 
or  less  accurate,  more  or  less  scientific,  more  or  less  freed  from 
collateral  impediments,  is  the  final  issue  of  all  medical  progress. 


PHASES  OF  THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  LAW. 

There  are  three  branches  or  classifications  of  the  Homoe- 
opathic principle  when  applied  to  practice,  each  of  which  it  is 
important  to  consider. 

1st.  When  we  produce  a similar  morbid  impression  in  the 
diseased  organ,  we  practise  direct , irritative  or  substitutive 
Homoeopathy.  This  includes  nine-tenths  of  our  daily  use  of 
drugs  : it  is  pure  Homoeopathy. 

2d.  When  we  produce  a similar  morbid  impression  in  a dis- 
tant healthy  part,  in  sympathetic  relationship  with  the  diseased 
part,  so  that  the  morbid  impression  is  reflected  or  communi- 
cated by  nervous  transmission  from  one  to  the  other,  we  are 
practising  indirect , sympathetic  or  transpositive  Homoeopathy. 

3d.  When  we  produce  a morbid  impression  in  healthy  parts 
to  prevent  or  exclude  an  approaching  or  threatened  similar 
affection,  we  practise  what  may  be  called  preventive  or  antici- 
pative  Homoeopathy. 


DIRECT  HOMOEOPATHY. 

The  most  obvious  illustration  of  direct,  irritative,  or  substi- 
tutive Homoeopathy  is  found  in  the  common  treatment  of  those 
local  diseases  which  are  within  the  reach  of  our  hands  and 


DIRECT  HOMOEOPATHY. 


15 


instruments.  The  use  of  caustic  or  irritant  eye-washes  to 
inflamed  eyes,  of  nitrate  of  silver  to  sore  throats  or  to  the  neck 
of  the  uterus,  the  introduction  of  medicated  bougies,  of  stimu- 
lant injections,  as  in  hydrocele,  ascites,  etc.;  and  the  applica- 
tion of  blisters,  caustics,  iodine,  etc.,  to  ulcers,  erysipelas  and 
other  cutaneous  affections,  are  examples  in  point.  Whatever 
explanatory  theory  may  sway  the  mind  of  the  physician,  the 
ultimate  fact  is,  that  a similar  artificial  disease  has  been  induced 
in  the  diseased  tissues.  The  Allopathist  has  perhaps  not  re- 
flected on  the  essential  point  of  similarity.  But  how  can  it  be 
otherwise?  Can  he  cure  an  inflammation  by  producing  a 
neuralgia  in  the  part;  or  a hemorrhage,  by  occasioning  a 
dropsy;  or  a convulsion,  by  bringing  on  a cough?  He  will 
find  that  all  of  his  local  applications  to  diseased  points  are 
themselves  irritant,  and  he  will  perfect  his  practice  by  making 
their  use  as  homoeopathic  as  possible. 

By  an  easy  and  natural  step  we  pass  from  this  point  to 
another,  which  is  the  most  important  and  perhaps  the  most 
novel  one  in  the  whole  exposition.  Homoeopathic  medicine  is 
but  an  extension  to  the  invisible  interior  of  the  body  of  the 
therapeutic  principle  which  the  Old  School  finds  so  efficient  in 
the  local  treatment  of  disease.  There  is  no  reason  why  inflam- 
mation of  the  brain,  liver,  heart,  lungs,  bones,  or  any  deep- 
seated  organ  or  tissue,  should  not  be  as  readily  modified  and 
cured  by  direct  irritants,  as  similar  morbid  states  in  the  capil- 
lary system  of  the  eye,  throat,  the  urethra,  pr  the  skin.  If  the 
Allopathists  could  have  cauterized  the  brain,  lungs,  liver,  etc., 
they  would  have  done  so  long  ago  ; and,  reasoning  from  analogy, 
with  every  prospect  of  success.  Now  nature  has  provided  us 
with  a vast  number  of  specific  caustics  or  irritants  to  every  organ 
and  tissue  in  the  body.  By  means  of  the  well-recognized  specific 
affinities  of  drugs  for  certain  organs  and  tissues,  we  can  produce 
artificial  diseases  in  any  given  point  of  the  body.  What  nitrate 
of  silver  is  to  the  throat  or  eye,  belladonna  is  to  the  brain, 
cantharides  to  the  kidney,  arsenic  to  the  stomach,  tartar  emetic 
to  the  lungs,  calomel  to  the  liver,  nux  vomica  to  the  spinal 
cord,  etc.,  etc.  That  idea  leads  you  into  Homoeopathy. 


16 


HOMCEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 


But  how  shall  we  compel  nature  to  render  up  to  us  the  secret 
of  these  glorious  specifics?  By  long  quid  painful  experimenta- 
tion upon  the  sick,  the  Old  School  has  stumbled  upon  the 
Homoeopathic  uses  of  a good  many  drugs.  Mercury  for  syphilis, 
copaiva  for  gonorrhoea,  sabina  for  uterine  hemorrhage,  calomel 
for  inflammations  of  the  mucous  membranes,  tartar  emetic  for 
pneumonia,  rhubarb  in  diarrhoea,  ipecac  for  vomiting,  nux 
vomica  for  asthma,  quinine  for  intermittent,  tonics  for  debility, 
alcohol  for  delirium  tremens,  and  turpentine  in  urinary  diseases, 
may  be  cited  as  illustrations  of  the  fact.  Almost  all  the  so- 
called  “ alteratives  ” of  Allopathy  cure  upon  Homoeopathic 
principles.  Individual  physicians  have  here  and  there,  now 
and  then,  used  almost  every  drug  on  Homoeopathic  principles  : 
but  the  above  specific  applications  have  received  a very  general 
endorsement  from  the  profession.  When  Allopathic  physicians 
use  those  drugs  in  the  above  mentioned  diseases,  they  are  prac- 
tising a crude,  bungling  Homoeopathy,  with  too  large  doses, 
however  ignorant  they  may  be  of  the  fact. 

Samuel  Hahnemann  enriched  the  4science  and  reformed  the 
practice  of  medicine,  by  discovering  the  true  way  to  get  at  the 
specific  operation  of  drugs.  Whilst  engaged  in  translating 
Cullen’s  Materia  Medica  from  English  into  German,  he  was 
struck  with  the  darkness  which  surrounded  the  action  of  Peru- 
vian bark.  The  idea  occurred  to  him,  that  the  true  way  to 
solve  the  mystery  and  to  ascertain  the  pure  and  unadulterated 
power  of  drugs,  was  to  take  them  in  large  doses  when  in  perfect 
health.  With  a wonderful  spirit  of  honest  research,  and  a noble 
self-sacrifice,  he  took  Peruvian  bark  until  it  produced  in  him 
an  attack  of  intermittent  fever,  for  which  it  is  specific.  That, 
my  good  reader,  was  the  cradle  of  Homoeopathy.  Hahnemann 
and  his  pupils  and  disciples  proceeded  to  construct  a new 
Materia  Medica,  by  experimenting  upon  themselves  with  full 
doses.  This  has  been  the  pure  Homoeopathic  method  of  obtain- 
ing such  knowledge  ever  since.  This  new,  reconstructed, 
reformed  Materia  Medica  is  the  true  glory  of  Homoeopathy. 
Of  its  priceless  worth  our  Allopathic  friends  have  no  conception. 
It  is  to  them  a vast  and  shapeless  chaos  of  material,  which  they 


INDIRECT  HOMCEOPATHY. 


17 


had  rather  ridicule  than  study.  It  has  indeed  its  faults,  its 
errors,  its  fallacies,  its  fantasies,  all  of  which  may  be  eliminated 
by  philosophic  analysis,  leaving  a residuum  of  incalculable 
value.  From  this  great  Materia  Medica  nine-tenths  of  our 
practice  is  drawn.  It  is  no  child’s  play,  no  apprentice’s  labor, 
no  first-class  student’s  work,  to  study,  to  understand,  and  to 
practise  Homceopathy.  Cultivated  minds  have  sometimes 
shrunk  away  from  the  task,  and  affected  an  incredulity  they 
were  too  intelligent  to  feel. 


INDIRECT  HOMCEOPATHY. 

I shall  now  proceed  to  demonstrate  that  a very  large  remain- 
ing part  of  Allopathic  practice,  namely,  that  known  as  counter- 
irritation or  revulsion,  is  also  essentially  homoeopathic  in  its 
action.  When  a drug  is  given  to  a sick  man,  no  matter  what 
the  physician  proposes  in  his  own  mind  to  do,  the  upshot  of 
his  practice  is,  that  he  produces  an  artificial  disease  somewhere 
in  the  body.  If  it  is  a similar  disease  in  the  diseased  point,  he 
practises  Homoeopathically  and  cures  his  patient.  If  it  is  a dis- 
similar disease  in  the  same  point,  he  practises  Allopathically  or 
anti-path ically,  and  does  not  cure  him.  But  suppose  he  cannot 
or  does  not  reach  or  act  upon  the  diseased  point  at  all.  He 
then  produces  an  artificial  disease  in  some  distant  and  healthy 
point.  What  relation  does  this  distant  disease  bear  to  the 
existing  one?  If  it  is  an  altogether  different  disease,  it  just 
inflicts  so  much  additional  suffering  and  injury  on  the  patient. 
A cramp  in  the  stomach  cannot  cure  a cough  ; a hemorrhage 
from  the  kidneys  cannot  cure  a neuralgia ; a convulsion  cannot 
cure  a sore  throat,  and  so  on  and  so  on.  But  a similar  disease 
in  a healthy  point  may,  by  reflex  action,  sympathy,  or  nervous 
transmission,  cure  a similar  disease  naturally  existing  in  some 
other  point.  Let  us  illustrate  this  matter. 

A blister  to  the  skin  frequently  is  advantageous  in  certain 
stages  of  pneumonia,  inflammation  of  the  brain,  bowels,  etc. 
The  value  of  mustard  plasters  is  known  to  everybody.  How 
do  they  act?  The  common  theory  is,  that  they  detract  nervous 
2 


18 


HOMOEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 


and  vascular  supply  from  the  diseased  internal  point  towards 
the  surface  irritated — that  there  is  a transfer  of  disease  from 
the  centre  to  the  circumference.  Now  this  supposed  derivation 
is  all  sheer  hypothesis.  Pereira,  a very  high  Allopathic 
authority,  pronounces  it  to  be  “perfectly  gratuitous  and  inca- 
pable of  proof.”  The  truth  is  precisely  the  opposite.  They 
reflect  their  surface-irritation  over  to  the  inflamed  organ,  and 
cure  it  Homoeopathically.  Dr.  Wm.  Stokes,  one  of  the  greatest 
Old-School  writers,  acknowledges  that  “a  part  at  least  of  the 
utility  of  blisters  is  owing  to  the  direct  stimulation  conveyed  to 
the  capillaries  of  the  diseased  tissue.  They  are  essentially 
stimulants.”  No  other  explanation  than  this  is  needed. 

Let  us  watch  nature  and  deduce  our  philosophy  from  her 
beautiful  processes.  Burns,  which  are  accidental  blisters,  fre- 
quently produce  internal  inflammations.  An  extensive  burn 
on  the  abdomen  will  cause  inflammation  and  ulceration  of  the 
bowels;  on  the  chest,  it  will  inflame  the  lungs;  on  the  head 
and  face,  the  brain.  So  of  all  irritations;  they  are  reflected 
from  point  to  point  in  sympathetic  relationship.  The  cold 
douche  to  the  surface,  contracting  the  cutaneous  capillaries, 
repeats  its  impression,  by  nervous  transmission,  on  the  visceral 
capillaries,  and  so  arrests  internal  hemorrhages,  etc.  The 
organic  state  produced  in  one  point,  is  reproduced  or  repeated 
in  others.  The  irritated  surface  reflects  its  own  state  over  to 
the  point  naturally  diseased,  and  this  reflected  stimulation  is 
equivalent  to  a direct  cauterization,  or  to  the  action  of  a drug 
specific  to  the  point.  Purgatives,  by  irritating  a vast  tract  of 
mucous  membrane,  will  relieve,  or  at  least  palliate,  upon  this 
principle,  a great  number  of  internal  diseases.  This  is  indirect, 
sympathetic,  or  transpositive  Homoeopathy.  The  Homoeopathic 
law  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  such  cures. 

While  thus  teaching  that  there  is  but  one  philosophy  of  cure 
— that  the  key  to  Homoeopathy  is  also  the  key  to  everything 
that  is  good  and  useful  in  Allopathy  — and  that  the  Homoe- 
opathic law  underlies  all  rational  medicine  as  its  true  founda- 
tion, and  has  never  been  understood,  in  its  whole  length  and 
breadth  and  power,  by  either  its  enemies  or  its  friends,  I would 


ANTICIPATIVE  HOMOEOPATHY. 


19 


not  have  my  reader  to  suppose  that  it  is  immaterial  whether 
one  practises  one  system  or  the  other.  The  superiority  of 
Homoeopathy  to  the  old  practice  cannot  well  be  estimated  or 
described.  The  difference  between  them  is  like  that  between 
silver  and  gold.  Our  law  of  cure  surrounds  us  with  a new 
atmosphere  of  light,  beauty  and  order.  Our  Materia  Medica 
is  rich  in  therapeutic  resources.  We  have  scores  of  wonderful 
specifics  which  accomplish  for  us  what  we  wish,  without  resort- 
ing to  the  coarse,  cumbrous,  complex,  and  often  injurious  appli- 
ances of  the  Old  School,  even  though  the  latter  have  the  homoe- 
opathic law  as  the  secret  of  their  occasional  success.  There  is 
one  thing,  however,  we  demand  as  our  right.  If  at  any  time 
our  finer  and  purer  homoeopathic  measures  should  fail,  owing 
either  to  the  infancy  of  our  art,  to  the  imperfection  of  our 
knowledge,  or  to  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  our  case,  we  are 
warranted  in  resorting,  without  being  guilty  of  any  incon- 
sistency, to  any  other  medicines  or  measures  which  we  honestly 
believe  to  have  a genuine  homoeopathic  foundation  for  their 
remedial  value.  Our  practice,  then,  can  be  misunderstood  only 
by  the  very  ignorant  or  the  very  uncharitable. 


A NTICIPA  TIVE  HOMGEOPA  THY. 

This  class  of  homoeopathic  measures  is  rather  small  at  pres- 
ent, but  is  probably  capable  of  very  great  enlargement.  Vac- 
cination is  an  artificial  disease,  of  which  the  essential  element 
is  a sore  or  pustule,  precisely  resembling  that  of  small-pox. 
The  effect  on  the  system  mysteriously  lasts  a great  while,  and 
prevents  or  excludes  the  poison  of  small-pox  from  affecting 
the  protected  individual.  Belladonna  produces  many  of  the 
symptoms  of  scarlet  fever ; and  it  is  regarded  by  many  as  a 
valuable  preventive  of  that  terrible  disease  — that  is,  keep  the 
child  under  the  influence  of  the  belladonna  poison,  and  it 
excludes  for  the  time  being  the  scarlet  fever  poison.  To  paint 
the  sound  skin  around  an  inflammation  with  caustic,  iodine, 
etc.,  to  prevent  its  extension,  is  also  an  example  of  anticipative 


20 


homoeopathy:  what  is  it? 


Homoeopathy.  But  the  best  illustration  is  found  in  the  use  of 
Quinine  for  the  cure  of  intermittent  fevers.  Dr.  Wood,  (Allo- 
pathic,) explains  its  action  in  this  manner : Quinine  produces 
certain  morbid  impressions  in  the  same  nervous  centres  through 
which  the  natural  causes  of  intermittent  operate.  If  the  Qui- 
nine-poisoning is  effected  during  the  interval  of  the  paroxysm, 
the  malarial  poison  is  excluded  from  operating  on  the  nervous 
centres,  and  no  paroxysm  occurs.  This  production  of  a similar 
artificial  disease  beforehand,  to  prevent  or  exclude  one  which 
is  threatened,  is  anticipative  Homoeopathy.  It  may  furnish 
the  clue  to  the  future  discovery  of  many  prophylactics. 


A WORD  ABOUT  THE  THEORY  OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

We  naturally  propose  to  ourselves  an  explanation  of  every 
thing  we  see.  We  love  to  understand  causes.  Alas!  how 
seldom  are  we  gratified.  The  greater,  the  grander  the  fact,  the 
less  do  we  know  of  the  causes  of  it.  Life  and  all  its  phenom- 
ena is  a world  of  mystery,  of  whose  causes  we  know  nothing. 
The  apple  falls  to  the  ground,  but  we  can  discover  no  cause  for 
gravitation.  The  needle  trembles  toward  the  pole,  but  we  can- 
not tell  why  iron  is  magnetic.  We  can  assign  no  adequate 
reason  for  any  one  of  the  thousand  wonders  of  chemical  affinity. 
So  of  the  Homoeopathic  law.  But  the  facts  remain  always  the 
same,  and  we  can  use  them  as  we  please.  “ Like  cures  like,” 
is  as  fixed  a fact  as  anything  in  physics.  Why  like  should 
cure  like  may  never  be  fully  known.  Still,  our  homoeopathic 
philosophers  have  made  many  brave  and  ingenious  attempts  to 
solve  the  enigma.  The  literature  of  the  school,  French,  Ger- 
man and  English,  swarms  with  theories  and  speculations  on 
this  inexhaustible  theme.  I wrote  a book  myself  on  the  sub- 
ject, more  than  twenty  years  ago,  and  I have  now  a still  more 
elaborate  and  recondite  theory  to  broach,  if  I thought  it  would 
be  worth  the  while.  But  there  is  no  use  of  it.  Homoeopathy 
is  entirely  founded  on  fact.  The  law,  the  Materia  Medica, 
the  dose,  the  application,  the  success,  have  no  foundation  but 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  DOSE. 


21 


fads.  The  world  has  theorized  long  enough,  especially  the 
medical  world.  Homoeopathy  sets  the  true,  practical  example. 
It  is  a branch  of  the  Positive  Philosophy. 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  DOSE. 

Ah,  yes!  What  about  the  dose?  chuckles  the  unbeliever. 
Indeed  the  small  dose,  the  apparent  inadequacy  of  the  means 
to  effect  the  end  in  view,  is  the  great  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  the  New  School.  And  still  the  dose,  like  the  law  itself, 
is  not  a matter  to  be  settled  by  theory  and  speculation ; but  a 
mere  matter  of  fact  and  experiment.  The  principle  says  noth- 
ing about  dose.  He  who  gives  an  ounce  of  epsom  salts  in  a 
case  of  diarrhoea,  prescribes  homoeopathically  just  as  truly  as 
if  he  gave  the  same  substance  in  the  hundred  millionth  of  a 
grain.  Hahnemann  and  his  disciples  began  by  giving  large 
doses,  but  produced  such  aggravations  that  they  were  obliged 
to  diminish  them  greatly.  They  pushed  the  attenuating  pro- 
cess, as  most  of  us  believe,  to  an  unnecessary  and  even  absurd 
degree.  Still,  it  is  a question  only  to  be  determined  by  experi- 
ment. I prefer  to  use  our  medicines  in  very  small  but  still 
appreciable  quantities  — quantities  which  would  have  no  influ- 
ence whatever  in  health,  or  on  any  part  of  the  system  except 
upon  the  diseased  point.  The  whole  scale,  however,  from  the 
crude  natural  substances  up  to  the  highest  infinitesimals,  should 
be  open  to  the  choice  and  the  practice  of  every  candid  and 
sensible  man. 

Several  general  truths  may  be  mentioned  as  tending  to  make 
the  small  dose  of  Homoeopathy  more  credible  or  plausible  to 
those  who  demand  something  more  than  the  simple  trial  of  it 
in  disease. 

All  the  great  operations  of  nature,  those  of  heat,  light,  chem- 
ical action,  etc. ; and  those  also  of  the  human  frame,  particu- 
larly the  wonderful  modifications  of  the  nervous  fluid,  are 
carried  on  by  microscopic,  atomic  and  infinitesimal  movements, 
almost  transcending  our  imagination. 


22 


homceopathy:  what  is  it? 


Our  medicines,  vastly  attenuated  by  trituration  and  succus- 
sion,  present  an  immeasurably  greater  surface  for  action,  becom- 
ing thereby  more  electric  or  magnetic,  or  at  any  rate  more 
subtle,  penetrating  and  permeating ; so  that  they  effect  a more 
perfect  contact  with  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  vital  tissues, 
where  the  atomic,  microscopic  and  infinitesimal  operations  of 
life  are  taking  place. 

Matter  is  indestructible,  and  no  matter  how  far  the  subdi- 
vision be  extended,  every  drop  of  the  alcohol  used  as  a vehicle 
must  be  pervaded  with  the  infinitesimal  atoms  of  the  drug. 

There  are  many  natural  agencies,  malaria,  effluvia,  etc.,  which 
cannot  be  seen,  felt,  weighed  or  analyzed  by  man,  which  yet 
produce  the  most  powerful  morbid  impressions  on  the  system  ; 
so  gradually,  and  insensibly  too,  that  man  at  the  time  is  wholly 
unconscious  of  their  action.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  homoeopathic  drugs  may  act  in  a similar  manner  — nothing 
being  felt  by  the  patient  beyond  the  gradual  removal  of  the 
disease. 

Homoeopathic  writers  have  illustrated  this  difficult  point  with 
great  learning  and  ingenuity.  Some  of  their  more  intelligent 
opponents  know  that  their  objections  are  really  answered,  and 
they  are  secretly  put  to  the  blush;  but  they  cannot  forego  the 
malicious  pleasure  of  keeping  the  “ small  dose”  before  the 
world  as  the  essential  part  of  Homoeopathy.  Believers  in 
Homoeopathy  are,  however,  either  persons  of  education  and 
culture,  or  they  are  people  of  that  strong,  practical  habit  of 
thought  which  looks  straight  forward  to  the  result  — the  effect 
— without  troubling  itself  to  understand  the  causes  or  the 
means 


LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  LAW. 

There  are  several  natural  limitations  to  the  operation  of  pure 
Homoeopathy,  which  it  is  necessary  to  remember,  before  de- 
nouncing the  practice  of  professed  Homoeopath ists  in  certain 
cases. 

1st.  We  only  profess  to  be  able  to  cure  those  morbid  states 


LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  LAW.  23 

which  we  can  imitate  on  the  healthy  body.  We  have  discov- 
ered no  drug  which  will  produce  anything  resembling  a deposit 
of  tubercles  in  the  lungs,  fatty  deposits  in  the  tissues  of  the 
heart,  cancerous  degeneration  of  the  breast,  etc.  We  shall  no 
doubt  add  greatly  to  our  remedial  discoveries  in  the  future ; 
but  at  present  there  are  many  morbid  conditions  which  we 
cannot  produce  by  drugs,  and  for  which,  consequently,  we  have 
no  homoeopathic  specific. 

2d.  Some  diseases  are  naturally  incurable  — not  only  the 
above,  but  many  others  — such  as  ossification  of  the  heart,  soft* 
ening  of  the  brain,  aneurism  of  the  aorta,  some  cases  of  epi- 
lepsy, certain  forms  of  paralysis  and  dropsy,  etc.,  etc. 

3d.  Life  itself  is  dependent  upon  certain  conditions,  tta 
presence  of  certain  natural  elements  and  certain  physiological 
stimuli  acting  on  those  elements.  We  must  remove,  so  far  as 
possible,  the  causes  of  disease.  We  must  give  food  and  air  and 
water.  Sleep  also  is  a vital  necessity.  Sometimes  it  is  a mere 
question  of  sleep  or  death.  If  we  cannot  remove  by  our  spe- 
cifics the  morbid  condition  which  prevents  sleep,  before  the 
vital  powers  would  become  exhausted,  we  must  administer 
opiates,  or  do  anything  which  will  produce  an  artificial  sleep. 
Sometimes,  also,  the  excitability  of  the  system  has  been  so 
greatly  exhausted  by  protracted  or  prostrating  diseases,  that  a 
bottle  of  wine  is  worth  all  the  medicine  in  the  world. 

Now,  in  such  cases  as  these,  with  patients  afflicted  with 
strange  and  incurable  diseases,  or  with  those  for  which  no 
homoeopathic  specific  has  ever  been  discovered,  what  is  the 
Homoeopathic  physician  to  do?  Is  he  to  give  them  up  into 
Allopathic  hands,  under  the  plea  that  he  only  practises  medi- 
cine where  he  can  make  the  homoeopathic  law  available?  Not 
if  he  is  a man  of  scientific  culture  and  independent  character. 
He  will  do  the  best  he  can  under  the  circumstances.  He  will 
palliate  by  every  means  in  his  power ; and  it  is  astonishing 
sometimes  what  relief  homoeopathic  remedies  can  give,  even 
when  they  cannot  cure.  But  he  need  not  confine  himself  to 
homoeopathic  remedies.  His  treatment  should  he  empirical  — 
anything  and  everything  which  promises  to  do  his  patient  any 


24 


homoeopathy:  what  is  it? 


good.  If  he  falls  short  here  of  the  most  intelligent  and  wide- 
extended  eclecticism , he  is  ignorant  of  his  duty  or  faithless  to  his 
trust. 


FINAL  DEFINITION. 

Homoeopathy,  therefore,  is  a reform  in  the  central  and  main 
field  of  medical  practice  — a reform  effected  by  the  discovery 
of  a great  therapeutic  law,  “ similia  similibus  curantur,”  and  by 
the  construction  of  a new  Materia  Medica,  which  reveals  to  us 
the  disease-producing  properties  of  drugs. 

A Homoeopathic  physician  is  one  who  uses  the  surgical , ob- 
stetrical, mechanical  and  chemical  measures  of  the  Old  School; 
who,  in  the  vital  or  dynamic  sphere,  is  guided  by  the  Homoe- 
opathic Law ; and  who,  beyond  its  natural  and  necessary 
limitations,  is  an  empiric  and  eclectic  in  the  most  liberal  and 
enlightened  sense  of  these  words. 


ALLOPATHIC  OBJECTIONS  NOTICED. 

What  have  the  “regular  physicians”  to  say  against  this 
rational  and  beautiful  philosophy  and  practice  of  medicine? 
How  do  they  endeavor  to  blind  themselves  to  its  real  merits 
and  the  public  to  its  further  reception  ? The  fact  is,  that  nine 
times  out  of  ten  they  know  little  or  nothing  about  it,  and  have 
neither  the  time  nor  the  disposition  to  learn  anything  more. 
They  think  that  Prof.  Andral  and  Prof.  Simpson  and  Hr. 
Holmes,  etc.,  have  examined  the  question  fairly,  decided  point- 
blank  against  it,  and  that  it  should  now  be  laid  on  the  shelf. 
Moreover,  they  are  getting  along  very  comfortably  as  they  are. 
Why  should  they  fluster  themselves  and  their  little  circles,  lose 
some  of  their  practice,  alienate  their  brother-doctors  and  com- 
mit themselves  to  a new  doctrine,  which  certainly  has  had  its 
fair  share  of  trials,  persecutions  and  misrepresentations  to 
encounter  ? Innovators  need  not  count  on  “ the  powers  that 
be”  to  assist  them  in  their  labors.  Some  acute  writer  has 
remarked,  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  restless  spirit  of  inquiry 


WHAT  HOMOEOPATHY  HAS  ACCOMPLISHED.  25 

and  progress  existing  in  the  laity,  there  never  would  have  been 
a single  permanent  reform  in  law,  government,  theology  or 
medicine. 

Still  they  must  have  some  answer  to  give  this  inquiring 
public,  when  it  presses  them  closely  on  the  homoeopathic  ques- 
tion. In  their  published  expositions,  they  generally  attack  the  y 
visionary  theories  of  Hahnemann  with  great  fury.  If  Hahne- 
mannism  were  Homoeopathy,  the  system  would  have  long  ago 
been  demolished.  But  Hahnemannism  is  a man  of  straw. 
Homoeopathy  is  a different  thing  altogether,  and  demands  a 
very  different  kind  of  answer  — not  yet  given.  To  the  public 
our  opponents  make  many  objections.  The  “small  dose” 
comes  in  for  the  main  share  of  ridicule  and  incredulity.  The 
story  of  little  Johnny  Smith,  who  swallowed  all  the  sugar  ^ 
pellets  in  his  mother’s  box,  without  being  hurt,  is,  of  course, 
never  omitted.  Then,  it  is  all  “ imagination,”  although  babies 
and  horses  are  cured  by  it  as  well  or  better  than  the  most 
imaginative  young  or  old  ladies.  Then,  it  is  all  “ diet,” 
although  it  is  well  known  that  we  always  allow  a more  liberal 
diet  than  the  Old  School  physicians.  Then,  it  is  all  “ nature,” 
but  the  wonder  is  that  Nature  should  always  practise  in  part- 
nership with  us  and  not  with  them.  But  all  these  things  are 
shallow  and  silly  — quite  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  present 
argument.  Our  answer  to  all  this  is  the  following. 


WHAT  HOMOEOPATHY  HAS  ACCOMPLISHED. 

It  has  spread  over  the  civilized  world  and  has  been  especially 
favored  by  the  most  influential  and  intelligent  classes  of  society. 
It  has  schools,  hospitals,  journals,  dispensaries,  associations  of 
all  kinds;  and  it  numbers  its  practitioners  by  thousands,  and 
its  patients  by  millions. 

It  has  given  a new  and  vast  impetus  to  the  study  of  the  true 
action  of  drugs  by  experimentation  with  them  on  the  healthy 
system. 

It  has  thus  reorganized,  we  might  almost  say  created,  a 


26 


homoeopathy:  what  is  it? 


Materia  Medica,  a glorious  monument  of  learning,  industry, 
and  self-sacrifice. 

It  has  rendered  Pathology  the  highest  service  by  making 
that  great  branch  of  medical  science  truly  practical ; for  an 
exact  parallel,  functional  and  organic,  between  the  phenomena 
of  diseases  and  drugs,  is  necessary  to  the  scientific  selection  of 
homoeopathic  medicines. 

By  its  great  therapeutic  law,  it  has  introduced  new  light, 
order,  beauty,  and  efficiency  into  the  theory  and  practice  of 
medicine. 

It  has  cured  thousands  of  cases  of  chronic  disease  beyond  the 
reach  of  Allopathic  art,  and  has  treated  all  the  acute  diseases 
with  admirable  success. 

It  has  met  all  the  great  epidemics,  and  proved  itself  always 
superior  to  the  Old  System.  I was  converted  from  the  Old  to 
the  New  School  by  witnessing  the  triumphs  of  Homoeopathy 
in  the  treatment  of  the  Asiatic  Cholera  in  the  terrible  epidemics 
of  18-19-50-51.  In  Yellow  Fever  its  success  was  equally  sur- 
prising. Dr.  Davis  and  myself  treated  over  a thousand  cases 
at  Natchez  in  1853-5,  with  a mortality  of  less  than  7 per  cent. 
On  account  of  this  great  triumph,  we  were  elected  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  the  Mississippi  State  Hospital,  (an  old  and 
well  endowed  Allopathic  institution,)  and  our  reports  from  that 
institution  were  further  confirmatory  of  the  superiority  of  the 
New  System. 

It  has  saved  thousands  of  cases  from  surgical  operations,  and 
has  introduced  new  comfort  and  safety  into  the  lying-in  room 
of  woman. 

It  has  been  a blessing  to  children  and  to  mothers  incalculable. 

It  has  been  found  as  useful  in  the  diseases  of  animals  as  of 
men,  and  many  veterinary  institutions  have  been  established 
for  its  practice. 

Finally,  it  has  shortened  the  average  duration  of  disease, 
diminished  the  expense  of  treatment,  economized  the  vital 
resources  of  the  patient,  and  delivered  its  friends  from  the  fre- 
quently baneful  and  long-lasting  effects  of  enormous  doses  of 
medicine. 


ELEMENTS  OF  RECONCILIATION. 


27 


ELEMENTS  OF  RECONCILIATION 

With  all  these  inherent  advantages  and  elements  of  success, 
who  believes  that  Homoeopathy  can  ever  be  destroyed  by  any- 
thing its  enemies  may  say  or  do  ? On  the  other  hand,  what  a 
pity  it  is,  that  with  so  much  neutral  ground  to  stand  upon,  and 
so  much  real  harmony  beneath  the  outward  show  of  total  dis- 
similarity : what  a pity  it  is,  that  there  should  be  two  great 
rival  schools  of  medicine,  jarring  and  jangling,  and  foolishly 
abusing  each  other  ! It  is  the  fault  of  both.  Hahnemann  was 
a great  and  high  spirited  “ regular  physician,”  and  he  published 
his  first  homoeopathic  teachings  in  the  best  medical  journal  in 
Europe.  He  was  met  by  that  storm  of  opposition,  ridicule, 
and  contempt  with  which  mediocre  conservatism  always  assails 
the  Columbuses,  the  Luthers,  the  Harveys,  the  Jenners,  the 
Fultons  of  our  race.  He  became  exasperated  and  dogmatic, 
and  henceforth  aspired  to  found  a New  School,  as  different  from 
the  other  as  possible.  No  great  reformer  ever  imposed  the 
despotism  of  the  master  so  thoroughly  on  his  disciples.  This 
generation,  however,  is  getting  rid  of  it ; Hahnemann  is  falling 
back  to  a subordinate  place;  and  Homoeopathy  reformed, 
emancipated,  and  rationalized,  is  established  on  a stronger  and 
more  scientific  basis  than  ever. 

Whilst  the  majority  of  Homoeopathists  are  no  longer  Hahne- 
mannians,  the  Old  School  is  approaching  to  Homoeopathy  with 
rapid  strides.  They  have  decreased  their  doses  in  the  most 
exemplary  manner.  They  have  acquired  more  knowledge  of 
the  natural  history  of  disease,  and  more  respect  for  a purely 
expectant  medicine.  Their  acknowledgment  of  the  homoeopathic 
law  is  extending,  and  volumes  of  good  Homoeopathy  might  be 
picked  out  of  their  published  practice.  They  have  even  formed 
societies  to  ascertain  the  true  effect  of  drugs  by  experimenting 
on  themselves,  in  imitation  of  Hahnemann  and  his  disciples. 
Their  great  leaders  are  questioning  all  the  old  settled  principles 
and  practice  of  Allopathy.  The  lancet  is  almost  wholly  aban- 
doned by  them.  They  denounce  the  abuses  of  quinine  and 
opium  and  calomel  and  purgatives  almost  as  energetically  as 


28  HOMOEOPATHY:  WHAT  IS  IT? 

we  do.  The  spirit  of  innovation  is  doing  a good  work.  Faith 
in  their  own  principles  and  practice  is  declining  everywhere. 
Dr.  Holmes,  the  great  humorist  and  opponent  of  Homoeopathy, 
(himself  an  Allopathic  professor),  declares  that  if  all  the  medi- 
cines in  the  world,  except  wine  and  opium,  were  thrown  into 
the  sea,  it  would  be  better  for  men  and  only  worse  for  the 
fishes. 

The  closer  our  approximation  to  the  truth  on  any  subject, 
the  more  thoroughly  we  shall  agree  in  opinion.  There  are  no 
skeptics  or  heretics  in  mathematics  or  astronomy.  It  follows, 
that  all  the  discrepancies  of  opinion  which  men  entertain,  arise 
from  ignorance  of  natural  laws,  from  merely  partial  glimpses 
of  them,  or  from  misconceptions  of  their  true  meaning  and 
extent.  The  present  chaos  of  the  mental  and  moral  world  is 
to  be  remedied,  like  the  old  terrestrial  chaos,  by  the  creation 
and  influx  of  light.  Knowledge  is  the  true  and  only  healer 
of  dissensions.  The  powerful  ferment  of  thought  which 
characterizes  the  present  century,  will  eventuate  in  a better 
order  of  things,  and  the  establishment  of  the  true  fundamental 
principles  of  theology,  government,  science,  and  art.  For 
medicine,  too,  and  medical  men,  there  is  a coming  millennium 
and  the  reign  of  brotherly  love. 


THE  END. 


